O'Connor's strategic lift hobby horse just hobbled the air force

It was a Harper/O'Connor pet project. They were intent on making it happen. Despite the fact that the Canadian Forces had alternatives, they forced heavy strategic lift aircraft on the air force, against the objections of most senior officers, including the Chief of Defence Staff.

Afghanistan is also taking a toll. Already the navy threatened to cancel a scheduled sovereignty patrol due to a budget crunch and the need to up-gun artillery, armour and infantry vehicles deployed with Canadian Forces in Afghanistan has caused other services to suffer.

Now, the real price of those aircraft is about to cross home-plate and the damage to other air force operations is significant. (Emphasis mine)

Canada's air force is looking at cutting the operating and maintenance budgets of some of its frontline aircraft next year in a fiscal pinch that defence insiders blame on new heavy-lift C-17 transport aircraft and the war in Afghanistan.

Senior planners at the 1st Canadian Air Division are studying a proposed 32-per-cent cut in funding for fuel and spare parts for the CF-18s, the C-130 Hercules, C-140 Auroras and the Sea Kings, defence sources told The Canadian Press.

"That's a damn significant hit," said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The staff in Winnipeg, the air force staff, are currently doing the staff checks to find out what the impact will be of those cuts."

The reductions, under consideration for the next budget year, would vary depending upon the fleet, but another defence insider said: "You're basically looking at a one-third cut in operating budget."

The fleets being affected, according to the report, are Canada's fighter interceptor force, medium-lift transport aircraft, long range maritime patrol aircraft and the navy's shipborne helicopters.

An official at National Defence headquarters confirmed the study is underway, but described it as a paper exercise, meant to give commanders a better sense of what is possible.

Yeah... but the truth would have been nice right there. It's not a paper exercise at all. When preparing each year's budget, the past year is the working document. The next year's budget is put together based on known quantities and some assumptions. Rarely does a budget cut, especially one as significant as this, occur without prior communications coming from on high.

The "paper exercise" is actually a planning document and one of the factors when preparing a budget submission is the limit of money to be made available from government. The planners have to work on the assumption that the money made available in the current year is the same or slightly increased for the next year. Other factors are included in budget submission such as increases in size of the air fleet which would be accompanied by an increase in the total operations and maintenance costs of the entire air force.

The "paper exercise" is actually an "options" list presented to departmental finance types and superior commanders. Much simplified it would be something along this line:

Acquisition of four C-17s will increase O&M costs by X million dollars annually based on a normal operating and training tempo. Air Command will require: 1. A significant increase in budget allocations to accommodate the arrival of new aircraft. The remainder of the air fleet will continue to be operated and maintained at current levels; 2. Authority to decommission aircraft and transfer the O&M funding to the C-17 program; 3. Reduce the operating and maintenance tempo of a large portion of the air fleet, transferring savings to the C-17 program.

The reason the air force is discussing a 32 percent cut in funding in the O&M budgets of specific aircraft types is because they have obviously been told that there has been no guarantee that there is any additional funding to meet the needs of the C-17 program or the contingency operations in Afghanistan. No, you may not decommission aircraft. Produce a budget document based on option 3.

In short, the air force has been told it is getting C-17s but no additional funding. And, like the navy, Afghanistan is chewing through the air force's O&M money because it is outside normal program funding.

The number-crunching may go on every year, but it is the size of the proposed cut that has air force insiders worried. "We've been cutting back our national procurement funding for years," said an air force source. "The military is supposed to be about readiness. When you're cutting back your spares, you're cutting back your readiness, your ability to respond."

But, just think what those heavy-lift transports will look like on Steve Harper's world stage.

I can hardly wait for the photo op.